I am sitting here now looking at the old hospital avdeling, A 10. I did not expect over two years later to be sitting in the new avdeling on the 6th floor looking out at the deconstruction of the old. I do recall however looking out of the old and watching the new being built or if we were facing the other side watching the city and thinking how much possibility lied there if I only took the opportunity to grab it!

A 10 was hope at the time. When my husband was diagnosed with leukemia we were sure that it would be treated with a rough cure and then over with after a year. (Plus the \"easy\" treatment after) However the first treatment quickly shown that it was not working and many treatments were to follow in nearly every part of the hospital and in Bergan.

However, høyblokka, A 10. I remember the kind nurses (smart too), the polikklinikk right down the hall; my son playing with the toys, receiving a cupcake on his birthday from a male nurse and my son loving the juice machine. We had a REAL tv there in the single man rooms and were more than happy to add an extra chair for the nurse to come and sit with us and enjoy a few minutes. (I would later learn from a med book that when nurses \"seem\" to be taking their time with you they are really testing your breathing while talking, movements and a few other things. However, its still a nice time)

I myself slept many nights on chairs and borrowed beds to be beside my husband no matter the size of the room or who we shared with. (And trust me some of his neighbors snored,coughed and smelled..but all were kind) (Or maybe just slept)

My husband once had one of his socks go missing from a patient that came into his room in order to get her socks on to go to the bathroom. He never found that sock.

Ahhh...and the best view of the city was from the window of the polikkilnikk up there. Beautiful! Speaking of, the only time I nearly fainted was when hearing my husbands bone crack when have a bone marrow test performed. Now I am use to it and pretty much any biological fluids and noises possible.

Ahhh..and the stairs were wonderful for exercising. I use to walk past many who would run up and down them. If I went all the way to the top I would come to a sign for the hospital priest. ;) At the bottom was where we met the ones who put in my husbands first hickman catether. By the time he had to have a third one put in, I was so use to blood and cutting that the doctors there were more than happy to explain the entire procedure to me while doing it. ;)

The nurses, getting use to me around would allow me to help my husband and find thing for him myself since I was pretty well known where most of the material was he needed. (Of course a few items were ONLY for nurses hands) However I lived off of the anti-bacterial so anything I touched would be just as clean after. ;)

Now I watch it being torn down. The old birth building already gone and nothing but a pile of dirt where my first and only son was born.

When my husband was first diagnosed with cancer the question we were asked the most was if we had children. NOW, I have learned why that was a big deal and I am very happy that my husband and I share our wonderful son.

Høyblokka was a place of life and death. Many were fixed and many were not. It was a place where people helped people, people went to work there and people missed work because they had to be there. I could write pages among pages of memories from there. Maybe my best are still hidden inside, maybe my most interesting have not come out yet but I do know that my experiences inside the høyblokka will not crumble down with the building.

No matter the fate of my husband, I will be thankful to høyblokka for the time they put into him. Yes, they! Høyblokka was doctors, nurses, helping nurses, lab workers, the transport people, mental care workers and many more I am sorry I have not named here. They were høyblokka. They gave it life and THEY will keep its memory living. In time, only books will remain of the place.